The invention relates generally to viewfinders for cameras, and in particular to a viewfinder that facilitates good composition of a picture to be taken.
When taking a picture it is necessary to know not only in what direction to aim the camera but also how much of the subject will be included in the picture. For this reason practically every camera has a viewfinder of some kind.
When one views the image of a subject in the viewfinder of a camera, the background area of the subject that can be seen in the viewfinder is typically 5%-15% less than the background area in the picture that is taken. Thus, the viewfinder can fall short of facilitating good composition of the picture.
According to one aspect of the invention a dual image viewfinder comprises:
a first front finder lens for forming an image of a subject including a background area of the subject;
a second front finder lens for forming an image of the subject including a background area of the subject that is greater than the background area of the subject included in the image of the subject formed by the first front finder lens; and
a rear finder lens for simultaneously viewing the images of the subject formed by the first and second finder lenses, whereby dual images of the subject including greater and lesser background areas of the subject can be simultaneously viewed when looking through the rear finder lens.
When one sees in the viewfinder the difference between the greater and lesser background areas of the subject, he or she is alerted to take care in composing the picture to be taken.
According to another aspect of the invention a method of viewing dual images of a subject in a viewfinder, comprises the steps:
forming a first image of the subject including a background area of the subject;
forming a second image of the subject including a background area of the subject that is greater than the background area of the subject included in the first image; and
permitting simultaneous viewing of the first and second images of the subject including the greater and lesser background areas of the subject.
Also, there is optionally included in the method the steps:
superimposing an image of a first frame on the second image of the subject;
superimposing an image of a second frame on the first image of the subject,
whereby, the image of the second frame superimposed on the first image of the subject and the image of the first frame superimposed on the second image of the subject can be simultaneously viewed.